The Best Hot Dog Ever

I’m not certain what’s in the best hot dog ever.

And to be honest, it doesn’t matter.

I mean, no one eats hot dogs for health reasons, do they?

This one seems to have a blend of pork, beef, veal, and mystery spices, and it’s paler than the rest.

If a hot dog could be an albino, this would be the one.

Uncured.

Unsmoked.

Unimpressive, to tell the truth.

But as a vehicle, it is unmatched.

It is perfectly suited to carry chopped onions, spicy meat sauce, and mustard.

And it’s hard to think of a better excuse to eat a hot dog bun.

What’s more, this creation can take a delicacy named after trash to a higher level.

After all, the best hot dog ever was destined to be paired with macaroni salad, home fries, and baked beans, all topped—again—with chopped onions, spicy meat sauce, and mustard.

Yes, this plate will clog your arteries.

But it will also cure your hangover.

And you won’t need to eat for a few days. Then, of course, you can toss back another.

They say we all have our best moments in life.

In no specific order, I will list mine:

• The day my first child was born.
• The day my second child was born.
• The day(s) I got married. Note: My wife may or may not agree. Another note: There was a courthouse day and another more festive day.
• The day the Buffalo Bills won the Super Bowl. Note: This was a dream.
• The day I first tried a white hot, also known as the best hot dog ever.

Note

The author would like to thank Zweigle’s for still existing and popularizing the white hot.

While his home—Rochester, NY—is often associated with the decline of iconic companies like Kodak and Xerox, Zweigle’s has been going strong since 1880.

The brainchild of Wilhelm and Josephine Zweigle, part of Rochester’s robust German community (that no longer speaks German), Zweigle’s remains family owned and operated and a source of local pride.

White hots—named as such to contrast far more common red hots—can be found with or without skin and are ideally designed as a protein for a local treat known as the Garbage Plate.

And unless you stumble across a stray Wegmans, you’ll be extremely challenged to find them outside Central and Western New York, which means they’re worthy of a visit or not that good.

The author believes it is the first.

(Image courtesy DanielPenfield, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)